The Citizen Soldier (DNF)

9) Light

*Clay POV*

My eyes shot open. I couldn't breathe.

HELP ME HELP ME HELP ME HELP ME

I coughed, it was instinct. I tried to breathe in and water got up my nose.

Fuck you, instinct.

I felt something lightly gripping me and I latched onto it and kicked to the surface of the river, hacking up river water and gasping for breath. I saw the bank and before I knew it I was already there, still holding whatever it was in my arms. I looked down at the boy that I knew.

I was surprised to see George there, sure, but I was also glad at the same time.

I looked up at the sky. Thank you, instinct.

I started CPR on George until he woke up and started coughing copious amounts of river water out and throwing up. I winced at the sight, it sure wasn't pretty. I looked away at the nearby trees until the retching stopped. When I looked back, George was clutching his head.

I understood why, I myself had a head rush. But I was also freezing cold, which I was more concerned about. I shakily stood and walked into the forest, looking for something that I could possibly burn. I was shivering so bad that it was a wonder that I even managed. I rubbed my hands together and just kept gathering as many twigs as possible for kindling. By the time I got back to George's position he was just curled up in a ball and he looked miserable. Which in turn made me feel miserable. He'd at least crawled away from the puke...

He very likely jumped in after me, I knew that. I was the reason he was in so much pain right now. I was the reason that he was cold. I was the reason he almost died along with me.

But you're also the reason he's breathing, you dumbass.

I shook the thought away. If I didn't jump in the first place, he wouldn't be here.

The guilt I felt was incredible and I wanted to just apologize in every way possible for the rest of my life, but I knew that I could only do that if we survived the night or day, or however long we got stranded out here.

I returned to the dangers of the forest to grab more burn wood and came back with a good bundle, but the issue was that George looked like he was sleeping, except his lips were blue and his breathing was irregular. My hands shook as I took one of his in my own and tried pulling him up to his feet.

That shook him awake, but he looked a lot out of it. He didn't seem like he really registered the situation. He shook himself awake even further and blinked a lot. He then glared at me.

"What. The. Fuck." His voice sounded cold. "Were you thinking?"

I looked at the ground in shame. "I-" I searched for some excuse. "I can't stand myself, George."

He continued that glare with shocking starkness, then put his hand on his face like my mother always did when she was disappointed in me. He shook his head. When he looked back at me he had tears in his eyes.

"Do you have ANY idea how scary that was?! I- I-" He gripped at his hair in frustration, making a very angry-sounding noise and stomping back and forth, overexaggerating his movements. He took his hands out of his hair and looked at them frustratedly. "I almost lost you!" He sat down against a nearby tree, shaking. "I thought I lost you, and, and then I fell in and I almost- I almost... I..." He started to hyperventilate.

After a few seconds, he regained himself. "Don't do that ever again! I don't want to have to fish out another-" He stopped, he looked scared. He stood and took a couple of steps back, now protecting himself it the trunk of the tree. He sat down on the other side of it and leaned into it. Obviously, it was a sensitive topic for him, and so I kept my mouth shut. He showed his silent gratitude to me.